Until The Very End Of Time
by Leila411
Summary: She is not of our world, nor is she of the otherworld. She is trapped in a realm of shadows...and the only way out, is the path set before her in iron. This tale, is of she who has fallen from grace, and who gave everything to save what was at the bottom.
1. Prologue: Storms

Chapter One**:**

The sky outside Konoha ninja academy was dark and cloudy. Rolling sheets of thunder crashed and merged into a terrible storm. Inside the building, lights were flickering on and off, and the walls vibrated with every boom of thunder.

"Leave us alone freak!" Two girls were standing beside one another and staring angrily at the shadowed person in front of them.

It was a slim person covered entirely with a black cloak that covered their entire face in a hood. In fact, the only thing to be seen except the blackness, was a pure white chain. Strung on the fine metal, was a pendant.

It was a strangely carved bird made out of clay with an inscription that inspired terror carved into it's chest.

_"As if a god who subjugates even the deities of hell, I will gather to the red dawn."_

The birds wings were outstretched and its eyes were the very picture of the words inscribed on it.

"Go away!" The same girl screamed again. "Leave us alone!"

For a few tense seconds, the hooded figure watched them silently, then turned and walked down the hallway. At the end of the hall, there was a dead end...and they stopped.

With a sound like wind whispering over fallen leaves, they melted into the wall and disappeared from sight.

Outside the windows, the lightning started to crash down, and the storm picked up speed.

_Survival is essential for living,_

_but only the savage will survive..._


	2. Chapter 1: Who Is She?

**Alright...here is chapter one! The first two or three actual chapters will be to build up all the characters a little bit. BUT...dumdumdum...I've planned THE most AWESOME, INTENSE, CRAZILY UNEXPECTED BATTLE FOR THE ENDING! You will never in a million bajillion years figure it out, so you're gonna have to REVIEW and SEE!!**

ChapterOne**:**

It was a busy day at the Konohagakure Ninja Academy. Graduation day had finally arrived for the latest crop of young ninja. Iruka Umino was standing in front of the class looking at each student. Each and every one held memories for him. There was the eternal goof ball Naruto. The class heart throb, the last Uchiha. Of course, there were the girls always after Sasuke and the boys who were all jealous of Sasuke...and...there was also her.

The one girl that rarely spoke, never chased after boys with the rest of the girls. On the day for registration, she had appeared with the rest of the children. Iruka had often spoke with her about many things. For starters, her name was Hana and she was an orphan. Hana had told Iruka that both of her parents had died in the war against Kyuubi. She was one of the top students in the class despite being emotionless and small. When her chakra levels were tested along with the rest of the class, hers rivaled that of a trained Jonin. Only two other ninja in the group could boast that much chakra. Uchiha Sasuke and Iruka himself.

Even with all that to boast about, she was a quiet, serious girl who covered her entire body with a hooded cloak, and covered her eyes with black sunglasses that looked impossible to see out of.

"Uzumaki Naruto." He called. Naruto followed him through the door with a squinted look in his eyes. Hana watched from the back corner of the class from under her dark hood. It only took several seconds at the most before Naruto came walking back out with a very sad looking Iruka behind him. No ninja headband shone around his forehead.

"Last is Hana. The rest of you may head home now." Most of the class got up to leave. Hana walked silently past all of them to the platform at the bottom of the classroom. Iruka smiled encouragingly and led her through a wooden door into a large testing room with shiny wood floors and a desk at one end. Iruka stood behind the desk and beside another sensei named Mizuki.

"Alright, Hana. You just have to make three clones and perform one jutsu of your choice for us and you pass." Mizuki said happily. She nodded and executed a perfect and quick clone jutsu. When Iruka gestured for her to continue, Hana stopped to think. What jutsu should she use? Eventually, she decided that out of her...arsenal of jutsu, earth was a better choice. Her palms slammed together in the sign of the rooster.

"Earth Style! Ground Lock!" Her heel dug into the floor. Iruka and Mizuki looked around. He scratched the back of his head and looked at her.

"Hana? Did something go wrong?" She simply raised her hand and pointed to a spot behind the desk. Mizuki turned his head, paled and tapped Iruka on the shoulder. Iruka turned around, looked, and turned back with an eyebrow twitching. Sand had leached through the floorboards and was forming a chain that had twitched and curled around Iruka's ankles.

"You pass." He said with a smile as Hana lowered her hand and the chain uncoiled from around Iruka's leg, coming back to her hand to solidify into a stone ball. She grabbed the ninja headband off the desk and ran out of the building.

"I...can't believe this!" She murmured as soon as she was out of the building. "I passed..." Walking blindly, she bumped into something violently orange and yellow all clashing together like the sun. It was Naruto, the one student who hadn't passed that day...he looked sad. She took a hurried step backwards, and shoved her headband into her cloak.

"Oh...hey...Hana, right?" Naruto said quietly, his voice holding none of the laughter it usually did in class. She nodded quickly, took another step back.

"Good job today..." He murmured. "Passing, I mean...you did better than I did anyways..." For a moment, her cold eyes stared at him through her shades, then a soft, strange sounding voice came from her.

"Don't be sad...Naruto-san..." Her voice was so...beautiful...with thousands of different tones and layers to its cascading sound. It felt slightly wrong seeing it coming from that slim figure dressed entirely in black. Naruto's first vision was of a free hearted princess in a flowing gown, but something snapped him back to reality. "I'm...sure you'll find...your own path to follow..." She turned to walk away. "Be thankful, Naruto-san...being a ninja isn't all that it seems..."

Without even performing a hand sign, she disappeared. Naruto clenched his teeth when he realized that she hadn't transported herself...she'd...ran. That was how fast she was...so much, that you couldn't see her.

"Urgh! How come everybody is better than me?" He yelled, alone on the quiet street. Suddenly, Naruto heard a sound on the air. It was like a swishing noise, and then that same soft voice spoke. It sounded like she was right behind him, but physically, she was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

"Try...harder..." The angelical voice faded, and he was alone again.

The next morning, as usual, when the students started to file into the classroom, Hana was already sitting in her seat in the back corner. Her...approximate chin location was resting on her hands, which were laying out on the desk.

Also, as usual, her black cloak was on despite the sweltering heat, and her hood was pulled up, hiding her face completely, except for the occasional glint from her sunglasses.

Daresay it, everything seemed normal that morning...until Naruto jumped into the room...wearing a ninja headband and grinning like he was the happiest guy in the world. To top things off, he walked up to the last empty seat...beside Hana, and asked happily;

"You mind? Good."

Some of the students stared at Hana through the corners of their eyes, wondering what she would do. The memory of what happened last time someone had tried to sit next to her flashed through their minds.

_The boy sat down there on a dare from his friends to see what was under Hana's hood. Just seconds after he sat down, his face paled for some unknown reason. His friends, laughing a few rows down, turned to see how he was doing, and froze. The hole where Hana's face was hidden was staring directly at the boy, she was obviously locking eyes with him. At that exact moment, he slumped sideways out of his seat and fainted...The next day, he transferred from that class and never was in the same room as her again. _

For a moment, she looked at Naruto, then put her chin back on her hands and stared down at the front of the room, where Iruka was writing something down on a clipboard.

He cleared his throat with a cough and waited for the class to fall silent. Raising the clipboard and grinning, he said out loud,

"I've got your team lists!" Some of the kids groaned. Most of the girls crossed their fingers that they were on Sasuke's team, while the boys crossed their fingers that Naruto wouldn't be on their team.

"Team One is made up of-"

Most of the students phased out until their name was called.

"Alright...Squad Seven...We have, Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto stood up and walked to the front of the room. The rest of the class held their breath. "Uchiha Sasuke." The Uchiha stood up and walked down to stand...close, to Naruto. They both glared at each other, and friction erupted immediately.

"And last, but not least..." Naruto folded his arms, sensing an underlying meaning to his words. "Nagato Hana."

All the other girls seethed and glared at her. How dare such a boring, possibly _ugly_ kunoichi get to be on the same team as their precious Sasuke? Meanwhile, all the boys sighed. They had lost both threats, Naruto and Hana...and Sasuke, all in one. As far as they were concerned, they were safe.

"Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked begrudgingly when Hana had taken the dangerous place between Sasuke and himself. "Why did you put _me _on a team with that?" He pointed to his left, and looked after his fingers. "Oops!" He pointed around Hana, with a grin. "With _that_?" Sasuke glared at his fingertip as if he wanted to bite it off.

"Just don't hold me back." He muttered. Hana pushed them both away from her and folded her arms angrily. Her intent was clear. Move, and I'll kill you.

"Jeez, jeez...calm down Hana..." Naruto murmured, taking another step to the right.

"Your room number is 206." Iruka seemed to be speaking to Hana more than the guys, who appeared to be having a staring contest. Without waiting a second longer, Hana grabbed Naruto's ear with two fingers, revealing a tiny, pale hand as smooth as paper. With the other, she grabbed Sasuke's arm and hauled them both out of the room, ignoring Naruto's loud screeches.

Neither the Uchiha, nor Naruto, could stop staring at her hands. They were like magnets. Beautiful, alluring magnets. They were so small, but not to be underestimated. As pale and white as alabaster, but as warm as coal embers.

"Listen carefully." She said quietly, but exuding a certain force. Carelessly and easily, she tossed them into room 206, where they landed upright, but still slightly shocked. "_I _am Nagato Hana. _I _am the one that has to deal with both of you losers, so keep the imbecility at a minimum. Got that?"

Sasuke and Naruto both shook their heads, eyes wide. Had she just?...No...but? Ignoring them completely then, she seated herself behind a desk and waited.

"So...we're team Seven then!" Naruto chirped happily. Sasuke didn't look up from his hands, as if he had gone deaf. Hana tilted her head to the side, and responded with a bell-like voice.

_"Team seven..."_

"Why do you wear such a heavy black cloak in the heat?"Naruto asked. Figuring, that if they were stuck together, he might as well try some conversation. Apparently, Sasuke heard his question too, for his head rose at that moment to look at her.

"There are many people who would jump at the chance to kill me if they saw my face. I...don't know why though..." Sasuke raised one eyebrow, and shivered as he felt Hana's eyes on him. "You see...about five years ago, when I was seven...I got amnesia. Not of fighting skills or anything, but all my memories of people...where is was...what I did there...they're all gone."

"Oh..." Was all Naruto felt safe saying. "What's that necklace?" He asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"It's the only thing I had before I lost my memory. And...it is very precious to me." She said quietly. Sasuke's spin stiffened slightly, but Hana took no notice.

"Your voice is awfully strange coming out from that evil-looking hood." Naruto said in a lame attempt at flirting. "You should try taking it off sometime.

"I wish you luck with that."She said with a slight laugh.

Sasuke snorted with laughter from where he was, leaning on the wall. With a growl and a shrug, Naruto turned away from them both and grabbed an eraser of the chalkboard. Without even stopping to think, he shoved it up between the door panels, set up so it would fall on whoever opened the door.

They waited for at least another hour, in complete silence except for Naruto who chatted endlessly to a pair of statues.

A vibration ran up the floor into Hana's feet. She murmured quietly out loud,

"He's coming..." Just as she finished saying it, a silvery head poked through the open door. With a poof, the eraser landed on their new sensei's white hair. His entire face was covered by a blue mask except for his left eye and part of his forehead. The hitai-ate was slanted on his head to cover his right eye.

* * *

"Well..." He began in a low voice. "My first impression would be...I hate you all."

"Alright, squad...." Kakashi Hatake said slowly. The four of them were sitting in a rooftop garden, mostly glaring at each other, with the exception of Hana who's hooded face was tilted towards the sky.

"Tell me about yourselves. You know, hobbies, likes and dislikes...ambitions or dreams." He said. "You first." A nod at Naruto.

"Heheheh...I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm gonna be the next Hokage! Believe it! I like ramen, but especially miso ramen! I hate..." His eyes flickered towards Sasuke, who rolled his eyes at the blond ninja.

"Hmm..." Kakashi rolled his eyes and looked at Sasuke next.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I do not dream, I do not have any hobbies or likes. I dislike almost everything. My only goal in life is to kill somebody...a certain Uchiha." The Uchiha finished dramatically.

"Well," Hana said quietly, not moving her body. Everybody glanced at her. "The best way to kill an Uchiha put a mirror at the bottom of a pool."

For a moment, there was silence, then Kakashi deadpanned as Naruto burst out laughing and Sasuke gave her a deadly glare.

"You wanna take this somewhere?" He hissed. Hana's shoulders shook as if she was laughing at him. It only aggravated him more.

"Leave it at this, Sasuke...I could beat you in one shot."

"Alright, alright..." Kakashi said, holding out his hands in a calming gesture. "You next..."

"My name is Nagato Hana. I like fighting. I dislike snakes. My hobby is fighting." At that, a weird look appeared on all of the others faces. "Hn, I'll show you later." She added assuringly. "My goal is to kill my mortal enemy, take back what he stole from me, us it to find my family and to gain complete mastery over jutsu." Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "Oh, and don't make me mad." Her shoulders shook with silent laughter again. "It's the last thing you'll do. My I.Q is _over_ three hundred."

Naruto was a little bit shocked by her cheerful but slightly threatening manner. It was almost like she was powerful, and she knew it. Intelligent? Genius? She was far above either of those terms. Kakashi was in fact quickly thinking of every possible answer to the one question in his mind.

_"She was so...familiar...who was she really?"_

Uchiha still boiled with anger about her mirror joke but was relieved when she took a shot at Naruto next.

"You know what they call blonds with brains? Golden retrievers." Naruto growled but it was Sasuke's turn to snigger. But Hana added warningly; "I have a lot more material on mirror's so I'd can it if I were you."

Letting out a sigh of exasperation, but slightly pleased to see the girl taking the boys down a few notches, or in Sasuke's case, several hundred, Kakashi turned to leave.

"Meet in in training field seven at nine tomorrow. Don't be late, and don't eat any breakfast." With a flash, he disappeared. Hana huffed almost angrily.

"He's _so _slow!" She whined. Her shape flickered, and then disappeared entirely. Both of the boys gaped at where she had just been sitting, and left themselves, walking in different directions even though they both lived in the west end.

Early the next morning, Naruto and Sasuke showed up in the training field, both promptly at nine. They wondered where Hana and their sensei could possibly be, but sat down and glared at each other for the better part of an hour.

About a mile away, Hana pushed through some bushes a little bit frantically, and froze. Kakashi was standing exactly where she wanted to go...the memorial stone. His head turned slightly.

"Come on already, before you're even more late." He said, stoically. Hana walked up to the oddly shaped stone and placed some flowers in front of it. "Who are they for?" He asked, just a little curious. As far as he knew, Hana had been orphaned at birth and never knew any family members.

"I feel...so...responsible..." She murmured, tracing the section of stone reserved for casualties of the Kyuubi war. "Sometimes I dream of the demon fox and...I wake up feeling like it was my fault..."

Kakashi stared at her through one wide eye.

"I have seen the red gates before..." With another flicker, she disappeared again, leaving behind a peeved Kakashi. She hadn't exactly given him a straight answer.

"Alright, newbies." Kakashi explained stonily. "Your objective is to get one of these bells...each." He held up _two _silver bells. "As there are only two-

"One of us will be tied to the stump." Sasuke said, understanding at once. With a nod, Kakashi was about to say something else when,

Naruto leaped at him, flashing shuriken. The reaction was so fast, they didn't see him move.

"Oh no Naruto...I didn't say go yet." Kakashi had Naruto's own shuriken pointed back at his throat. "Show off your skills...GO!"

Sasuke and Hana flickered out of sight, while Naruto broke free of Kakashi's grasp and launched himself back at the jounin.

From under a bush, shadowed eyes watched critically. _There!_ Kakashi made a slight misstep. _But Sasuke was going for it! _Hana waited silently. Then, she noticed that Sasuke was giving Kakashi a little bit of a shock with his skills. It was then that she came to a decision.

Checking her speed, she shot of the bushes and stood stock still in front of Kakashi. He seemed a little confused. Hana's hand darted out, and tapped one of the bells. Kakashi's eyes narrowed, and he took several jabbing punches at her head.

From where he crouched in the trees, Sasuke watched fixedly. Her motions were as fluid as water.

It almost seemed as if she was sliding around his attacks, her palms gently guiding his punches away from her. Kakashi jumped back a step and threw five kunai knives at her.

Hana didn't move a muscle until they were millimeters from her skin before shifting her weight and dodging each one by a hairsbreadth.

_"Now." _She thought to herself. _"Hold in your chakra...you only need...one thousandth of maximum primary levels...release now."_

"Water Style. Water Dragon Jutsu." A long, thin column of water shot out from the nearby river, taking on the shape of a narrow dragon as it launched at Kakashi's back. The silver-haired jounin turned just in time to perform an earth style protection technique.

_"How come __**my **__students all have impressive powers?...Except for Naruto..." _Kakashi wondered his head drooping towards the ground.

Just as mysteriously as she had shown herself, Hana disappeared into the bushes, and faded completely from all senses.

"Whhhhaaaattttt?!" Naruto screeched as he was caught in yet another of Kakashi's traps. "Ah, no way man! I'm gonna be the next Hokage! You can't do this to me!"

"Huh..." Kakashi sighed and let his head droop. "How can you become the Hokage if you keep walking into traps like this?"

Back in the bushes, Hana was sitting lazily on a thick tree branch, pondering how to best get a bell without going to full-out with her power.

Just as she started to formulate part of a plan, she glimpsed Sasuke also taking his time to think, away from that idiot Naruto.

Silently, she threw a shuriken at him to get his attention. True to his reputation, Sasuke turned and caught it, glaring at her silently. Beckoning with her fingers, Hana put an apologetic slump into her posture and lowered her head.

"Sasuke...I think, If we work together, we can get both bells." She whispered. For a moment, the Uchiha determinedly stared in another direction, then nodded slightly.

"Yeah...do you have a plan?" He took the opportunity to glance at her, and his eyes widened.

Hana's hands were slowly tugging at her hood and pulling it off her head. Sasuke nearly fell off the branch, and couldn't hide the shocked look on his face.

"I had to show you, so that you wouldn't be shocked when I show Kakashi my face to distract him. You think it'll work?"

Hana's hair was a shocking shade of red and pulled up into a ponytail with bangs hanging loose around her eyes. She had perfect, pale, smooth skin that seemed to glow in the pale lighting. Her features were fitted perfectly to her thin, angular face. A small smile decorated her face, knowing and somehow slightly heavenly looking. The only way to describe her was...celestial...Except,... she wore strange black sunglasses over her eyes, which were impossible to see through the crystalline lenses. The Uchiha recognized them as goggles that prisoners wore so that their vision was limited.

Sasuke shook his head to clear his thoughts and nodded.

"Yeah...That should work." He coughed slightly and turned to jump off the tree branch. "I'll be waiting for your signal."

"You'll know." Was all she replied. Her voice, which had seemed so strange before, now fitted perfectly with her image. It was calm, cool, and joyful at the same time.

Without even standing up, she disappeared. When Sasuke looked back down at the open field, he saw Hana hiding close to where Kakashi was scolding Naruto. Her hood was back up.

Her hand shot out of her cloak, revealing an exploding tag wrapped around a knife. She tossed it into the ground close to the river, and vanished.

"Well, well, boys...I didn't think I'd ever be doing this." A wind kicked up, and the smoke from the explosion started to clear.

Hana was standing in the crater with her arms folded over her chest and a triumphant look on her gorgeous face. Throwing a deceiving wink in the other guys directions, she tossed her hair and sighed.

"You know, Naruto? I used to think you were just an idiot, but..." A scary vein twitched in her forehead. "You're a MORON!!!" Naruto shrank in front of her as she started blowing up at Naruto and punching every inch of him that she could reach. "AND YOU!" She turned her furious anger on Kakashi who took a step backwards and raised his hands.

"HaHa, calm down now, Hana-chan...Take your anger out on Naruto, not on your poor, _old_ sensei!"

Just then, Sasuke exploded out of the ground and pulled the bells neatly off of Kakashi's belt. Before the jounin knew what had happened, Sasuke, Hana and Naruto were all grinning at him and jiggling..._three?_...little silver bells.

"What was that? _Sensei? _Does that mean we pass?" Hana asked with a delicate giggle. Kakashi looked from their three bells to his belt with a thin eye.

"But...there were only..."

"I had my own...but since, we got the bells anyways..." Hana said with a goofy smile. "Don't you just love teamwork? Naruto was in on this from the start!"

"But...how?" Kakashi scratched his head confusedly, but his eye was smiling. "You guys haven't had any contact."

Hana tapped the side of her head.

"I.Q, Kakashi-sensei. Works every time!" She gave him two giggly thumbs ups, and helped Naruto back to the ground. All three genin looked excitedly at Kakashi.

"So? So? Do I pass?" Naruto screamed, glancing again at Hana's face as he did.

Kakashi seemed to hesitate.

"No." All three of their faces fell. "You _all _pass." He grinned at them teasingly with his own revealed eye and gave them a thumbs up.

"Yeah!" Naruto punched the air and ran around screaming his head off.

"Tears of joy?" Sasuke murmured.

"No." Hana said with an annoyed look on her face. "I think he stepped on a nail."

* * *

**I Like the end. It seemed really like Naruto to step on a nail and scream. So like I said everyone, this story is going to be really good once it gets going, so even if you don't review, put it on an alert so that you can follow up and maybe change your mind if you like it or not. **

**Hana is a really original character once she is explained a bit more.**

**P.S:**

**I am now starting a contest. Review and tell me who you think fights at the end of this story. The first correct answerer will recieve...a cybercookie...:)  
**


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